They take a share because policing the poppy fields is an expensive business, the Taliban simply just can't go buying weapons from anybody. So they have to buy them from arms traffickers such as the Italian mafia, guns, anti-aircraft missiles and rocket launchers are extremely expensive for the Taliban for obvious reasons. So their 'cut' has to be large to to cover their overheads. Of course if you're good at something never do it for free, and the Taliban will be banking a small fortune and they'll be using that fortune to gain more control of Afghanistan. Why grow anything else when you're already go an existing and growing market for your existing crop? There's no money in growing anything else, there's nothing else that's worth the effort. [video=youtube;kwyoq6CrflQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwyoq6CrflQ[/video]
Like any extortion operation. You could make the same argument for organized crime in the US. They need to take in a lot of extortion money, because fighting the federal government is expensive business. Growing poppies is no more expensive than growing wheat, especially considering we are supplying seed for free. The Taliban's costs associated with racketeering and extortion are really not a justifiable expense. Now this is more accurate, but still incomplete. Yes, there is more money in Poppies, but equally important, if you grow poppies, the Taliban won't shoot you and burn your crops. To say there is no money in wheat and corn is obviously inaccurate, as demonstrated by the article I provided. They do have a choice. I'll never argue against the idea that, all things being equal, a farmer is going to grow the most profitable crop he can on his land. As Muslims, I just find it a bit surprising they would actively engage in something they themselves acknowledge is haraam. They might as well be running distilleries, or selling printed pictures of Mohammad.
Its a rumour that the Taliban grows/sells opium because they don't know where the Taliban gets their money and weapons from to terrorize US forces for the last 10 years. Its not true that Afghans will die out of hunger if they don't grow opium, there's plenty of things to grow, opium just happens to be more profitable and there's no fear that the Taliban will burn down their opium fields because US military is their to protect their fields from the Taliban.